The Hunt for Ikumatsu
by Traldor
Summary: Katsura goes to see Ikumatsu at her ramen shop only to find her missing. Armed with only a mysterious note can he find her?
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

It was midday when a man walked up to a ramen shop called Hokuto Shinken. The place was known to serve the best ramen this side of Edo. The man had little interest in ramen, he had always been a soba man, but he did enjoy conversing with the proprietress, Ikumatsu. Still young, Ikumatsu had lost her husband a few years back. She decided to carry on their shop in his memory.

The man wore a blue kimono tied with a yellow sash. His long black hair was covered with a straw hat that served to keep the sun off his face as well as to keep his features from public view. At his hip he wore a katana and from the way he walked it was obvious that it belonged there.

Ignoring the sign on the door, he tried to open it only to find it locked. Noticing the sign at last he read it quickly. It read, _Attention Customer: Sorry for the inconvenience, but Hokuto Shinken will be closed until further notice_.

Worried that something may have happened to the owner, the man effortlessly climbed the building up to the balcony of the second floor. Interestingly enough, this was where he and the owner had first met. At that time he had been running from the Shinsengumi, wounded, and she took him in and treated his injuries. Because of this and more, if the worst had happened here, he would do everything in his power to make it right.

Looking through the window into her bedroom he saw the place was a mess. Drawers were ripped from the dresser, clothes were strewn about everywhere and there was even some broken glass with some blood on it lying on the floor. Worried the man opened the window and entered the building.

He hurried from room to room looking for any sign of Ikumatsu. She was nowhere to be found. When he made it to the bar downstairs he saw that the burner to the stove was still on and there was tape on the counter that could have been used to tie her up. He also found a note next to the tape. All it said was Edo Bus Station 5PM.

He took the note and turned off the burner to the stove. Who could have kidnapped her, he wondered. It wasn't like she had much money. All of it was tied up in ramen. Maybe it was a ramen shop yakuza who didn't like her cutting into their profits, or maybe it was an enemy from his past who was trying to get revenge on him through her.

This was serious; shampoo serious. It was just after noon now so that gave him a little under five hours to rendezvous at the bus station. The first thing he would need to do would be to go to the Shinsengumi headquarters and report that she was missing. He would also have to get in touch with Elizabeth to let him know what was going on, maybe Gintoki also. He was always useful in a pinch.

He heard a loud banging on the front door. "Open up! It's the Shinsengumi!" a familiar voice yelled.

Thinking quickly the man decided that reporting a missing person to the Shinsengumi could wait until they happened to be in a better mood. He rushed up the stairs to find three Shinsengumi in her bedroom already. It seemed that they had anticipated his escape onto the roof. Before they knew that he was even there he has passed them onto the balcony.

"Katsura!"

Down below he saw Sougo Okita armed with a bazooka. He didn't want her shop destroyed because of him. He would have to do the only thing that made sense, give himself up.

Taking out a new bomb he codenamed 'himself' from his inside his haori sleeve, he tossed it down at the offensive Shinsengumi officer before the man could fire at him. The bomb had the desired effect of making everyone run for cover. When it went off the area was covered in a dense smoke to assist in his escape. His new smoke bomb had worked perfectly.

He quickly moved from rooftop to rooftop and before the smoke had finally settled he was long gone and had evaded the Shinsengumi pursuit. He figured that now would be a good time to report a missing person to the proper authorities with the most rabid of them away from the base looking for him, but first he would need a disguise.

As luck would have it there was a Joui hideout not too far from his current location. There, he could find a costume to wear and it would be an easy to make up a new name.

Once inside he took his hat off. He saw Elizabeth going over some plans for an attack on the Shinsengumi with some of the Joui. The plan was simple and brilliant. Katsura had come up with it one day at a local diner when he accidently put salt in his coffee instead of sugar. He had thrown down the coffee in disgust and the rest of the day he was sluggish and tired. If they could switch their sugar and salt, in one fell swoop, he will have sapped the will and energy of the Shinsengumi.

Elizabeth had just finished going over step forty eight of the plan when Katsura signaled for him to stop. Elizabeth put down the sign he was holding up and stood there quietly waiting for their leader to speak. The other twelve men in the room all turned to listen to him.

"My fellow patriots, today is a sad and dark day. We must put aside our plans to take down the Shinsengumi. Ikumatsu-domo as been kidnapped and I shall not rest until she is safely returned and ramen and soba, once again, can be enjoyed by all," he told the assembled men.

"What can we do to help?" one of the men called out to him.

"I need you all to stay here, and focus on our goal to take down the bakufu. I can not risk the other members of the Joui for this. It would be one thing if it was for a mission in the name of the Joui, but this is something personal. So must I ask that you carry on with your duties as normal and wait for my return."

Katsura took the scattered yeses and ayes around the room as a general acceptance. He went to a side room and opened it to rummage for a costume. He had a few to choose from. Thinking that a woman may get more sympathy than a man he decided to wear the uniform he had to put on when he worked at the club called Kamakko.

"You can't come with me," Katsura told Elizabeth without turning around.

Elizabeth held up a sign. **I'm coming with you.**

Still looking away Katsura replied, "I need you to lead the men. The cause is greater than me."

Elizabeth held up another sign. **You better come back safely.** Katsura could only nod in reply.

In almost no time Katsura was ready to go. From his time at Kamakko he had gotten very good at putting on makeup and the weird clothing that woman wore. His long black hair complimented the blue female kimono decorated with orange lotus blossoms. It was a nice kimono and it fit him well.

With his disguise complete, Katsura was ready to face the Shinsengumi. He would use whatever means necessary to get Ikumatsu back from whoever had abducted her, even his most hated enemy. With a great resolve he exited the secret base and easily hailed down a taxi.

"Where to beautiful?" the driver asked.

"The Shinsengumi headquarters please and it is not beautiful, it is Katsura."


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Katsura, no, his name was Zurako he reminded himself, paid the taxi cab driver and got out of the car. He stood in front of the Shinsengumi headquarters. Truthfully he knew coming here for help was probably going to be a waste of time. The Shinsengumi were nothing more than the anemic arm of the Bakufu. However, with a lot of them out looking for him en force, this was a good time to do some reconnaissance. They had appeared at Hokuto Shinken to arrest him a little too quickly for his taste.

Katsura…Zurako wouldn't put it past the Shinsengumi to kidnap Ikumatsu-dono themselves just to get to him. It seemed like the type of underhanded action that they would take. A true samurai would never stoop to such a dishonorable act, but then, samurai were in short supply these days.

He entered the building, not finding it difficult to appear concerned. Shensengumi were rushing about. It seemed that something had upset the hornets' nest, he thought.

He reached out and grabbed the arm of the first man who came within reach. "Ma'am, if you don't mind we are in a bit of a rush right now," the man told him.

Katsu…Zurako gripped the man's arm tighter, not allowing him to escape. "It is not ma'am, it is Ka…Zurako. I need to report a missing person."

"As you can see Zaruko, we are unable to take your complaint. Please take it to the regular police," the man said abruptly and shook his arm free from his grasp.

"It is not Zaruko, it is Zurako," Katsura said but the man was already gone.

No one was paying him any attention. From the random chatter about him it seemed that someone, much more important to the Bakufu than a simple ramen chef, had also been kidnapped. It also appeared that the Joui topped the list of suspects. That could explain the sudden attack on him at Hokuto Shinken, but he wanted to search their headquarters first just to be certain that they truly had nothing to do with Ikumatsu's disappearance. Luckily, with everyone's attention diverted, it gave him plenty of opportunity to search the building for any evidence.

He moved from room to room looking for any clue of foul play. Something like a ladle or an apron, but, from what he could see, there was nothing. Damn, he had really hoped that he found something here that would have confirmed his suspicions. It looked like he was going to have to head to the bus station after all.

"Uh, excuse me, miss. Can I help you?" the familiar voice from behind startled him, but his years of training didn't let it show.

"I was looking for the men's room," Katsura told the man as he turned. He reached into his kimono and grabbed hold of a smoke bomb just in case.

The voice had come from Isao Kondo, the leader of the Shinsengumi. "The bathroom is right down this hall, but we don't have a facility for women," he told Katsura, either ignoring his slip up or missing it himself. "Normally women are not allowed in here."

"Ah, I see. I have come to report a missing person. Ikumatsu-dono, the proprietress of Hokuto Shinken, has been kidnapped," he told the Shinsengumi officer.

"I'm very sorry miss, but I'm afraid all of our resources are being used to look for Soyo-hime."

"Kondo-san, I'm not sure that the public was supposed to know that she was missing," Sougo said as he joined them in the room. "I came to report that Katsura escaped again. Hijikata'san's still out looking for him. I hope that the two of them get into a fight and someone dies, either way it'd be a happy ending. Who's this?" he asked, pointed at Katsura.

"I didn't catch her name, but she came to report a missing person." Kondo told him.

"Tell her I'm busy enough as it is. I'm going to take a nap. If she wants me to console her, she should come to my room wearing a collar," he said in a bored tone as he left room.

It was becoming apparent to Katsura that the Shinsengumi had nothing to do with Ikumatsu-dono's disappearance. It looked like the only lead he had was that vague note telling him to meet up at the bus station in a few hours. He had time to ask Gintoki for help, but this required finesse and Gintoki was more of a smash everything till nothing moved sort of guy. A useful person to have in a fight, but the guy wasn't the forward-thinker that he was. He probably had never even tried to upgrade to the twin famicom.

"Ahaha, don't mind Sougo, he's just under a lot of pressure," Kondo said, misreading Katsura's apprehension.

"Thank you for your help, Kondo-san," Katsura said to him and made his way back through the building. As he passed Kondo he accidently dropped the smoke bomb and it rolled on the floor next to Kondo's feet. Katsura kept walking pretending nothing had happened.

"Miss!" Kondo called after him. "You dropped something." He bent over to pick it up and brought it to him.

"It is not miss, it is Katsura, and thank you. It is a family heirloom," he said as he took the device from Kondo.

The buzz of the chaos around the two of them stopped dead. "It's Kotaro Katsura!" one of the Shinsengumi yelled. In moments he was surrounded by the Shinsengumi with their katana drawn.

Katsura tisked. They somehow had seen through his disguise. One of the disadvantages of dressing up as Zurako was that she didn't wear a katana. He didn't really want to use this smoke bomb. They weren't cheep. It was just his luck that the Nmaibo was out of stock at the supermarket this week.

"I am sorry, I don't have time to be arrested today," he told his would be jailors.

"Get him!" they yelled and surged towards him. "I got him!" "That's me, idiot!" "Hey, let go of my hair!" "I got a hold of his kimono!" When the pandemonium had died down they saw that they did have his kimono but there was no Katsura.

"Hohoho," Katsura was over by the front door laughing standing only in his sandals, socks and a pair of Elizabeth themed boxers. "You can not catch Kotaro Katsura. So long!"

By the time the Shinsengumi made it to the door Katsura appeared to be long gone. One of them near the front of the group pointed down the street. "I think that I saw him go this way," he yelled.

The group rushed down the street leaving the man who had directed them behind. The man smiled to himself and calmly walked in the direction of the bus station, brushing at the sleeves of his newly acquired Shinsengumi jacket.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

It was 4:55 and Katsura was standing in the Edo Bus Station terminal. He was wearing his newly acquired Shinsengumi uniform still because, as much as it left a bitter taste in his mouth to wear the clothes of his hated enemy, they were the only clothes that he had at the moment. He was sure that he would have attracted much more attention wearing just his boxers. The Elizabeth print on them was pretty cute and he didn't have time to fight off the hordes of women that would have accosted him.

He also could have stopped at one of the many hideouts throughout the city where he had disguises stashed. There was one not a block from the bus station. However, he had other matters to attend and ended up not having time. In the end the uniform did make for a very good disguise.

He was observing a suspicious man coming off a newly arrived bus when he felt a familiar sensation. In a single motion Katsura whirled around, grabbed the hand of a man holding a knife, disarmed him and pressed him, face first, up against the wall with his arm secured behind his back.

The man was an Amanto. He wore a set of non-descript clothes though he himself stuck out like a sore thumb in a station filled with mostly humans. He was green skinned, scaly and looked very much like a man-shaped lizard with a short snout. He had a long way to go if he didn't want people to notice him and the first piece of advice that Katsura would have given him would have been to take a bath.

"You thought that you could sneak up on me you scum?" Katsura asked the Amanto menacingly pressing his face into the wall.

"I'm sorry," the reptilian man croaked. "I panicked. I expected you to be on the other side of the station."

Katsura kept pressure on the man's head. "Where is she?" he asked him.

"I don't know. I really don't!" he repeated when Katsura pressed harder, "They just sent me to tell you to open locker eleven with a key they gave me."

"Where is it?"

"It's inside my coat pocket," the man was in a near panic. "You're hurting me. I'm nobody. They picked me up off the street and told me to meet you here. I don't even know who they are."

Katsura believed him when he said that he was nobody important. Whether he believed that the man worked for the people who took Ikumatsu was another story. This man had Harusame practically written all over him. There was a chance, however, that that was exactly what her abductors wanted him to think. He'd be better off taking the man with him and interrogating him. If nothing else he could learn what the people who asked him to do the job looked like. Elizabeth could be very persuasive.

He pulled the Amanto from the wall, turned him around and gripped his arm tightly. "Let's walk quietly over to the lockers and see what's inside," he told him firmly.

Keeping a hold of him the two of them walked over to the lockers. The Amanto had a wild look in his eyes. The man was scared and Katsura knew that he had good reason to be.

When they reached the lockers Katsura motioned for the man to open number eleven. The man fumbled into his coat pocket and took out a small key. He inserted it into the key hold and opened the locker. Inside was a sealed unmarked envelope.

"Take it out."

The Amanto took the envelope and offered it to him. Katsura grabbed the offered item and opened it. Inside was a piece of paper. It read, **To get her back we need something in return. Have the power to the northeast side of Edo turned off by 5:00PM tomorrow.**

He looked up from the paper at the Amanto who was standing nervously waiting for him to let him go. That wasn't going to happen. Even if it were true that he was an innocent bystander he still had to know something about the person who recruited him to make the drop. His next move would be to take this man and the paper back to the safe house to see what information could be gathered from them.

Katsura took a hold of the Amanto's arm and started to drag him along. "I have some more questions for you. You're coming with me," he told him.

Suddenly the man went limp. Katsura looked down at the man, annoyed that he was fighting him. The Amanto's reptilian eyes stared blankly and shoved into the back of his neck was a needle like spike. The man was most certainly dead. Katsura tisked. He wasn't surprised that the kidnappers had him killed, but the person who did it had snuck up on the two them without him being detected. He found that to be disconcerting.

Not wanted to draw attention to himself he let go of the man's arm and walked away, blending into the crowd. While it was disappointing to lose a source of information, at least he had what looked to be twenty four hours to act to save Ikumatsu, and it wasn't like he had nothing to go on. The kidnappers had made a giant mistake and Katsura would make sure that they paid big for it.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

Katsura didn't know why Ikumatsu-dono's kidnappers wanted him, of all people, to shut off the power to half of the city. While it was true that he had the means and ability to pull off such a feat, there had to be someone safer or more easily bribed to deal with for the task. If the kidnappers knew him well enough to know of his friendship towards their victim, then they had to know how dangerous he could be. As far as he was concerned the only person in Edo that might be more dangerous than him to blackmail was Gintoki.

Given the time frame that was set, Katsura couldn't afford to waste much of it on idle speculation. He needed information. The kidnappers killing their messenger made tracking them down more difficult, but, if he could find the assassin that they had hired, he could probably obtain even better information. His next logical course of action would obviously have to be to head to the amusement park and to take a ride on the teacups.

Still wearing the stolen Shinsengumi uniform, he headed for the amusement park. He enjoyed spending time there. Many of the games were great for conditioning reflexes and hand eye coordination. In the past he had even worked there to make some extra money to help fund his Joui activities.

Katsura made good time to the park. He smiled when he saw one of his fellow Joui members, Amaro-san, working the ticket booth. It would mean that he wouldn't have to sneak in to avoid the gate cost.

When he finally made it to the front of the line, Amaro-san recognized him despite the uniform he was wearing. "On behalf of Edo Parks I'd like to thank you for your service sir. Please go right on in," he said to Katsura with a conspiratorial grin and Katsura solemnly nodded in response.

Once inside he made a beeline for the cotton candy vender. It wasn't that he was a fan of the sticky confection, but when one went to the amusement park one must buy some cotton candy. He only hoped that they still had some of the green colored stuff left.

The first vender he found was sold out. The man tried to offer him some of the purple but that would make for a poor substitute of green cotton candy. The second vendor also seemed to be sold out of the green colored sweet. The man even had the nerve to get mad at him when he voiced his complaint. Yes, he knew that each color tasted the same but it was imperative that he had the green colored. When he bought cotton candy he always bought the green.

Finally at the third vendor he found a small stick of green colored cotton candy. He sighed with relief. He didn't know what he would have done if the whole park had been sold out. He gave the man a couple hundred yen and then made his way over towards the spinning teacups.

Katsura got in line for the teacup ride, holding the cotton candy like a torch to light his way. Just as he was about to get on the ride the conductor stopped him. "No food or drink on the ride," he said pointing to the rules sign posted in the most inconvenient spot to read.

"I'm sure you can make an exception, sir," Katsura replied respectably.

The man's eyes narrowed and gave Katsura a though look. "No exceptions," the man said succinctly, pointing to the sign once more.

Katsura gave an exasperated sign. "I would like to talk to your manager, sir."

The conductor gave him an unrepentant grin. "Sure, whatever you want. He's in the back," he said pointing to the small building behind the ride. "But be warned you won't get any further with him than you did with me."

Katsura made the short trek to the small building, knocked twice and entered without waiting for a response. Inside there was just one room. A table separated the room and on the far side sat an old man sipping tea.

"Throw away that infernal cavity inducing crap and come site down," the man irritably said to him.

Spying a trash can to his left he unceremoniously dropped the cotton candy into it. "Why make people buy cotton candy as a signal to request a visit if you hate it so much?"

The old man made a sour face and pulled a pair of fake teeth from his mouth. "Years ago, when I started this gig, I had all my teeth and would enjoy eating the damn confection. Now with them all rotted out I've lost my taste for it and it's too much of a pain in the rump to change the signal." Without his teeth globs of spittle flew from his mouth as he talked. He put his dentures back in before he continued. "Now tell me what you want Kotaro Katsura before I decide to turn you in to the Shinsengumi myself for the price on your head."

Katsura ran down the list of the few things he knew about this old man in his head. It seemed nobody knew his name. When someone did mention him to others, it was always in hushed tones and he was only referred to as 'the old man'. He had strong ties to the seedy underground of Edo, but somehow kept himself free from its backstabbing politics. He was probably the only man Katsura could go to for the information he needed and he knew that it wasn't going to come cheap.

"I need to find an assassin."

"You expect me to believe that Kotaro Katsura needs to hire an assassin," he laughed. "Bah, tell me the reason you need an assassin.

"I would rather not say," Katsura replied.

"Listen well boy, I'm not going tell you anything about any assassin until I know you're not planning on killing one. I have no damned interested in getting in the middle of some maudlin revenge plot."

"It is not the assassin I am looking for, just her last employer."

"And what if this evidently female assassin refuses to give up her employer's name? Some of them can be quite picky about that I'm told." The old man took a sip from his tea cup. Though he looked relaxed Katsura could tell that he was ready to strike at any sign of provocation. It was just as well that Katsura had no plans of provoking him.

"I am not a murderer. You have my word as a samurai that I will not harm her."

The old man gave him a hard look and then nodded his head in acceptance. "The price for my information will be a favor from you once your business has been completed. If you agree to this price then tell me the name of the assassin you're looking for."

"Her name is Haku."


End file.
